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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.2111066796DTM: Dramatic race for Mueller while Rast walks away with win number sixhttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/14/dtm-dramatic-race-for-mueller-while-rast-walks-away-with-win-number-six/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/14/dtm-dramatic-race-for-mueller-while-rast-walks-away-with-win-number-six/#respondSat, 14 Sep 2019 17:19:49 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=13057Rene Rast dominated the race and scored a lights-to-flag victory, while his rival Nico Mueller lost ground in the championship. BMW’s Bruno Spengler and Marco Wittmann finish on the podium. The start of today’s race might have been the title-deciding moment. As the lights went out, it seemed like Mueller had a better start from […]

]]>Rene Rast dominated the race and scored a lights-to-flag victory, while his rival Nico Mueller lost ground in the championship. BMW’s Bruno Spengler and Marco Wittmann finish on the podium.

The start of today’s race might have been the title-deciding moment. As the lights went out, it seemed like Mueller had a better start from third than Rast from pole position. Though, good as it looked, it turned out to be a jump start, gaining Mueller a drive-through penalty. Taking his penalty on lap three, he had to try something to make up ground, so he pitted very early hoping for a Safety Car. That didn’t happen and eventually, he had to stop another time as he started to struggle with his tyres in the final stages of the race. He crossed the line in sixteenth. “The jump start was clearly my own fault”, Mueller commented. “The lights were red for a long time. I only had the choice between stalling the engine or driving off.”

Rene Rast though had a perfect day. A good and clean start and he kept the lead. “That was a perfect day”, Rast said after the race. “The car, the strategy, the pit stops: everything today was just perfect. A big ‘well done’ goes to my team that has been doing an outstanding job so far this weekend. That was an important step toward the championship title today.”

Mike Rockenfeller, who started fourth, passed Bruno Spengler at the start. After Mueller served his drive-through, the Phoenix Racing driver took second place. On lap 17 both Rast and Rockenfeller visited the pits for their mandatory pitstop. The gap between the pair wasn’t huge when they rejoined the track, but Rockenfeller couldn’t get close enough to think about passing the 2017 champion. Rockenfeller was later forced to retire his car because of a suspected engine issue. A big shame as he was running second. This isn’t the first retirement this year while running in a good position. He’s still aiming to finish third in the championship.

“It could have been a really good Saturday.”, is what Rocky commented after the race. “The whole weekend was quite positive. I think we had a strong race pace. At the time I had the failure I was catching Rene in the front. I think we had a shot today to win the race. It was a really good feeling until then when the car broke down. But that happens; it’s racing. The engine should be okay. We changed a part and tomorrow we go for it again.”

Photo Credit: BMW Motorsport Twitter

Rockenfeller’s retirement meant that Rast’s advantage over Spengler was a solid 15 seconds. In the end, Spengler crossed the line 10.7 seconds behind the Audi driver and made his second appearance on the podium this year after his Norisring victory. Marco Wittmann finished third after starting from eleventh on the grid. After he made his stop, he was ahead of Spengler. However, as he ran wide in the Mercedes Arena section on his out-lap, Spengler could pass him and managed to keep the gap around five seconds. Theoretically, Wittmann still has a chance to win the championship. “I’m happy with the race – particularly as we have worked our way up from 11th to third place without any assistance – just our own pace, our own strategy.”

We saw some incredible fights between drivers for fourth, fifth and sixth. These battles almost lasted the entire race. None of the places were decided for certain until the drivers crossed the line. Jonathan Aberdein took an impressive fourth place. The 21-years old South African racing for Audi’s customer team WRT now sits tenth in the championship standings – best of the five rookies this season. Jamie Green thought he would finish fifth, but got passed by Loic Duval after a spectacular move in the final corner of the final lap.

Sheldon van der Linde started off pretty well and was also involved in these battles. For a long time, he was fighting with Aberdein and Duval for fifth but then dropped back a little. Eventually, he finished seventh ahead of his BMW teammates Joel Eriksson and Timo Glock. Robin Frijns suffered a bad start and saw pretty much the whole field go past him. He recovered well and in the end finished tenth, taking the final point.

Photo Credit: Aston Martin Racing Twitter

Daniel Juncadella just missed out on the final point and finished eleventh, best of the R-Motorsport drivers. He was followed by Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul di Resta. Unfortunately, the fourth Aston Martin didn’t make it to the finish. Jake Dennis retired at the same time as Rockenfeller. “Not a great race. Obviously, we got another failure.” He commented after his race was over. “I’m pretty disappointed.”

Before today’s race, Rast had a 22-point lead over Mueller. However, after Mueller did not score any points today and Rast adding another 25, the gap between the two is now 47 points. With three more races to go, there is a possibility that the championship will be decided tomorrow if Rast scores nine points more than Mueller does.

Tomorrow’s qualifying will start at 10.25 local time (09.25 UK time) and the race as usual at 13.30 local time (12.30 UK time).

]]>http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/14/dtm-dramatic-race-for-mueller-while-rast-walks-away-with-win-number-six/feed/013057DTM: Rene Rast celebrates seventh pole, Mueller starting from thirdhttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/14/dtm-rene-rast-celebrates-seventh-pole-mueller-starting-from-third/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/14/dtm-rene-rast-celebrates-seventh-pole-mueller-starting-from-third/#respondSat, 14 Sep 2019 11:03:04 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=13050As the first qualifying of the penultimate round draws to a close, championship leader Rene Rast celebrates his seventh pole of the season. The grid looks a little more mixed as BMW’s Bruno Spengler starts from second. The sun was shining at the Nurburgring this morning, something not so common as conditions can change very […]

]]>As the first qualifying of the penultimate round draws to a close, championship leader Rene Rast celebrates his seventh pole of the season. The grid looks a little more mixed as BMW’s Bruno Spengler starts from second.

The sun was shining at the Nurburgring this morning, something not so common as conditions can change very quickly at the track located in the Eifel. Though temperatures are not too high so it took a while for the drivers to get their tyres up to temperature. In the first half of the session, Rast already topped the timesheets with 1:20.387. Though, his eventual pole time was set on the second run in the final minute. A 1:19.642, an impressive time compared to 2017’s pole time – which was a 1:20.936.

“It’s been a good qualifying.” Rast commented after the session. “The car was working really well. Thanks to the team, they did an awesome job. I just had to nail the lap, which worked out. So, I’m very happy.”.

Bruno Spengler will start this afternoon’s race from second on the grid. The last couple of races Audi mostly dominated the qualifying sessions, though today it was a little more mixed. The gap from Rast to Spengler was 0.180 seconds. Lining up on the second row on the grid, are Nico Mueller – who is currently second in the championship – and Mike Rockenfeller. For Rockenfeller and his team, this weekend’s races will be a little more special, as it is their home-race – their factory is based just 5 km from the track.

Dieter Gass, Head of Audi Motorsport, praises his two championship contenders for their strong results: “Rene this year in the qualifying is really incredible. Thirty points already now, only in the qualifying is really massive. Nico is there in the second row right behind Rene at the start. So, we have both championship contenders up there in the front. I hope we can keep them there, that would be a big step towards the drivers’ championship.”

Jonathan Aberdein, one of the five rookies on the grid this season, has been impressive in qualifying all year. He will start the race from fifth. Starting alongside him is another rookie and fellow-South African Sheldon van der Linde. Timo Glock is the third and final BMW starting from the top ten in seventh. He is followed by another trio of Audi drivers – Loic Duval, Jamie Green and Robin Frijns.

Marco Wittmann, third in the championship, will start just outside the top ten in 11th. One minute before the end of the session, we had a yellow flag caused by Philipp Eng. The BMW driver parked his car just off the track thanks to a gearbox issue, he qualified 13th.

Photo Credit: Ferdinand Habsburg Twitter Page

Just like yesterday, Paul di Resta is the best-placed Aston Martin R-Motorsport driver in 14th. Jake Dennis, Daniel Juncadella and Ferdinand Habsburg will start from 16th to 18th. Thanks to a five-place grid drop, Habsburg could save himself a fresh pair of tyres for the race and got out of the car while others were doing their second runs.

Rast receives three points for his pole, rival Mueller only one for qualifying third. Which means he now has a 22 point lead over Mueller going into this afternoon’s race, which will start at 13.30 local time (12.30 UK time).

]]>http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/14/dtm-rene-rast-celebrates-seventh-pole-mueller-starting-from-third/feed/013050DTM: Friday at the Nurburgring – Rast and Rockenfeller set the pacehttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/13/dtm-friday-at-the-nurburgring-rast-and-rockenfeller-set-the-pace/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/13/dtm-friday-at-the-nurburgring-rast-and-rockenfeller-set-the-pace/#respondFri, 13 Sep 2019 21:49:21 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=13038This weekend DTM arrives at the legendary Nurburgring for the eighth and penultimate round of the 2019 season. First, we have a quick look at the latest news and then we see what happened in the two practice sessions. This time last week we received the news that DTM is going to Autodromo Nazionale di […]

]]>This weekend DTM arrives at the legendary Nurburgring for the eighth and penultimate round of the 2019 season. First, we have a quick look at the latest news and then we see what happened in the two practice sessions.

This time last week we received the news that DTM is going to Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in the 2020 season – an exciting thing to look forward to. Just like the Nurburgring, Monza is a special track as well with a fantastic history. The circuit has hosted the Formula One Grand Prix since the championship started in 1950. After Adria, Mugello and Misano, Monza will be the fourth Italian track in the history of the series. “For motorsport fans all over the world, Monza is legendary.”, Gerhard Berger said. “The characteristics of the circuit promise wheel-to-wheel duels at high speeds as well as good opportunities for overtaking.”

The track, located in the North of Italy, is 5.793 km long and has three long straights. Because of this, the track is known for its high speeds, top-speeds of 295 km/h can be expected. It’ll be challenging for every driver, though most really look forward to it. “It’s gonna be good.”, R-Motorsport driver Jake Dennis said. “Monza is always great and creates good racing. DRS is going to be really effective. I’m super excited.”

Sheldon van der Linde, another rookie this year racing for BMW commented: “I was there last year for the Blancpain Endurance Series. My first time at Monza. It’s a crazy track, just for racing in general – there’s so many overtaking opportunity’s. From a racing point of view, it’s going to produce very good racing. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Later that week, we got more announcements, all regarding the season finale at Hockenheim from 4 to 6 October. As previously announced, SUPER GT has been invited to the event – all three manufacturers join with one car. Honda will be there with ex-Formula One driver Jenson Button – driving the Team Kunimitsu NSX-GT. “During my career as a driver, I’ve always been an avid admirer of so many different forms of top-level motorsport.”, he wrote on his social media. “I’m delighted to say I’ve been given another such opportunity by Honda, GTA and DTM as I will be taking part in the last two rounds of the DTM championship at Hockenheim.”

Unlike Honda, who have Button as their only entry, Nissan and Lexus send two of their drivers to Germany. Each doing one race. Nick Cassidy and Ryo Hirakawa – the champions of 2019 – will drive the TOM’S Lexus LC500. Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda will pilot the Nismo GT500. Though this won’t be the only joint-race for the two championships. The SUPER GT x DTM Dream Race will be held at Fuji Speedway from 22 to 24 November. It is expected six to ten DTM cars will race at the event and further details about the driver entries will be announced at a later time.

Moving on to the action on track today. It is championship leader Rene Rast who finished the first practice session on top. His best time was a 1:20.438, which in the end proved to be the fastest time of the day. Following him in the next six places are all Audi teammates, with his biggest rival Nico Mueller in third. Rast’s gap to Mike Rockenfeller – who ended in second place – was 0.436 seconds. “The weekend started well with P1 in FP1”, Rast commented. “The long-run pace was okay, but we still have some work there.” As we have seen quite frequently this year, Marco Wittmann was the best-placed BMW driver in eighth. Best placed R-Motorsport driver is Paul di Resta in tenth.

Photo Credit: DTM Media

The second practice session in the afternoon started off in a different way. After only a few minutes a red flag was thrown. The door on the driver-side of Ferdinand Habsburg’s car came loose and flew off onto the track. After a quick recovery, the session restarted. Not long after, it was Mike Rockenfeller who crossed the line with a 1:20.524, only 0.086 seconds slower than Rast in the first session. “We had two smooth sessions.” The German Audi driver commented. “We tried a few things, and, although the handling of the car isn’t perfect yet, it’s not bad at all, so let’s see what we can do this weekend. So far, it looks quite promising!”

Overall, Audi once again appears to the team to beat. Although Wittmann improved between the practice sessions, it wasn’t enough to catch the Audis. Tomorrow’s action starts at 10.50 local time (09.50 UK time) and the first race of the weekend at 13.30 local time (12.30 UK time).

]]>http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/13/dtm-friday-at-the-nurburgring-rast-and-rockenfeller-set-the-pace/feed/013038Charles Leclerc holds off Mercedes to win in Monzahttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/08/charles-leclerc-holds-off-mercedes-to-win-in-monza/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/08/charles-leclerc-holds-off-mercedes-to-win-in-monza/#respondSun, 08 Sep 2019 16:02:29 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=13020Charles Leclerc put in a brilliant drive to hold off both Mercedes drivers to win the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Leclerc lead away from the start and withstood heavy pressure from Lewis Hamilton in the early stages, having better straight line speed down Monza’s long straights. Mercedes tried to over-cut Leclerc to get the […]

]]>Charles Leclerc put in a brilliant drive to hold off both Mercedes drivers to win the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Leclerc lead away from the start and withstood heavy pressure from Lewis Hamilton in the early stages, having better straight line speed down Monza’s long straights.

Mercedes tried to over-cut Leclerc to get the lead, pitting Hamilton on lap 19 to put on the medium compound, but Leclerc changed tyres a lap later, switching to the hard compound and just about managed to stay ahead.

Hamilton used his soft tyre to close down the Ferrari driver and made a move to pass him on lap 21, but Leclerc left Hamilton with nowhere to go at the second chicane and the Mercedes driver was forced to take the escape road.

Leclerc was given the black and white flag for that move and Hamilton was never able to get sloe enough again, eventually locking up at Turn 1 on lap 42, allowing Valtteri Bottas to overtake him for second place.

Bottas appeared to have more pace than Leclerc and closed in on the 21-year-old, but made a mistake at Turn 1 with three laps to go, allowing Leclerc to maintain a gap and win the race.

Hamilton crossed the line third and took a late pit-stop to put on the soft tyre to claim the fastest lap of the race on lap 52.

Daniel Ricciardo had a strong race claiming his first top five finish since his move to Renault, crossing the line in fourth, while his teammate Nico Hulkenberg was behind in fifth.

Alex Albon was next to finish in sixth while Racing Point driver Sergio Perez but in a stellar drive finishing seventh having started 18th.

Max Verstappen was next to finish having started at the back of the field. The Dutch driver had to pit at the end of lap 1 after breaking his front wing at the first corner, while Antonio Giovinazzi and Lando Norris rounded out the top ten.

Sebastian Vettel had a nightmare of a race compared to his Ferrari teammate. He spun at the Ascari chicane on lap six and hit Lance Stroll whilst returning to the circuit.

That incident caused Stroll to spin, and he forced Pierre Gasly on to the grass as he tried to rejoin the track.

Vettel was given a 10 second stop-go penalty as a result of his actions, while Stroll was given a drive through penalty, as no contact was made with Gasly.

Gasly ended up finishing 11th, while Stroll and Vettel were 12th and 13th respectively.

George Russell was 14th for Williams ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean and Robert Kubica.

Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat both retired with mechanical issues while Carlos Sainz failed to finish for the second race running as he left his pit stop without his right front wheel connected properly.

]]>http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/08/charles-leclerc-holds-off-mercedes-to-win-in-monza/feed/013020F1: Leclerc takes pole at Italy in bizarre final Qualifying sessionhttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/07/leclerc-pole-italy-qualifying/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/07/leclerc-pole-italy-qualifying/#respondSat, 07 Sep 2019 15:46:10 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=13013Charles Leclerc took pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza after a bizarre finish in the third qualifying session. All drivers, apart from Leclerc and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, got stuck in traffic at the end of Q3 and failed to improve on their second runs. The result meant that Leclerc’s time of 1m19.307s […]

]]>Charles Leclerc took pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza after a bizarre finish in the third qualifying session.

All drivers, apart from Leclerc and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, got stuck in traffic at the end of Q3 and failed to improve on their second runs.

The result meant that Leclerc’s time of 1m19.307s was fast enough to put him ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in second place.

Before qualifying the stewards had given the drivers a minimum ‘slow-lap’ time to obey to in order to avoid traffic build up, and they have now confirmed that the last flying lap incident is under investigation.

Valtteri Bottas was just 0.008s shy of Hamilton’s time in third place, while Sebastian Vettel ended the session fourth.

Renault put on a really strong showing after initially expecting to struggle with Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg ending up fifth and sixth.

Carlos Sainz Jr was seventh, with Alex Albon, the Racing Point of Lance Stroll and Kim Raikkonen rounding out the top ten, with the latter three not setting a time due to impending penalties and Raikkonen’s crash on his first flying lap.

Antonio Giovinazzi just missed out on Q3, ending up 11th, ahead of the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.

Daniil Kvyat was 13th fastest, while the McLaren of Lando Norris was 14th after a difficult session.

Pierre Gasly ended up 15th, just 0.057s behind the McLaren of Norris.

Romain Grosjean was 16th in his Haas, ahead of Sergio Perez, who caused a red flag in Q1 after a power issue left him stranded on the side of the Curve Grande.

George Russell and Robert Kubica qualified 18th and 19th, while Max Verstappen was the only driver not to set a time.

The Dutchman was due to start at the back of the field in any event, after changing engines, however, when he went to set a lap at the end of Q1 he suffered a power failure, and was unable to complete a lap.

]]>http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/07/leclerc-pole-italy-qualifying/feed/013013A Tribute to Anthoine Hubert – A Spectators Perspectivehttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/04/a-tribute-to-anthoine-hubert-a-spectators-perspective/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/04/a-tribute-to-anthoine-hubert-a-spectators-perspective/#respondWed, 04 Sep 2019 20:33:29 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=13000The entire Motorsport community has been in mourning since the evening of Saturday 31st August when the news broke that Formula 2 driver, Anthoine Hubert, succumbed to his injuries after a massive crash on the second lap of the Formula 2 Feature Race at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. This incident has shocked everyone to their core […]

]]>The entire Motorsport community has been in mourning since the evening of Saturday 31st August when the news broke that Formula 2 driver, Anthoine Hubert, succumbed to his injuries after a massive crash on the second lap of the Formula 2 Feature Race at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

This incident has shocked everyone to their core as safety has been a top priority for the FIA. An investigation is now underway to assess what exactly happened and how the three cars of Hubert, Juan Manuel Correa and Giuliao Alesi caused such an enormous crash. At just 22 years old, Hubert was slowly becoming a rising star after becoming French F4 Champion in 2014 and then GP3 Champion last year. Hubert raced for BWT Arden and managed to gain two wins to his title this year, first in Monaco and the later in his home country of France.

Hubert started his karting career at the age of 7 in 2004 and just under ten years later, in 2013, had managed to work his way up to single-seater racing with the French F4 Championship. Hubert took to this like a duck to water by winning the series on his first go with a grand total of 11 wins and 2 other podiums. By 2016, Hubert made his debut in the European Formula 3 Championship for Van Amersfoort Racing. One year later, he was recruited by ART Grand Prix to take part in the 2017 Championship for GP3. Hubert remained their driver until 2018 where he won the title and made an impression on Renault Sport Formula 1 Team. Beginning in January 2019, Hubert joined Formula 2 racing team BWT Arden who he raced with until his untimely passing.

Hubert started his road to Formula 1 back in May 2018 where he became affiliated with the Renault Sport Academy and later received full backing from the team. Hubert took part in the Renault Roadshows which were showcases by the Formula 1 team leading up to the 2019 French Grand Prix and became the first Formula driver to take part in one of the attractions at the Disneyland Paris theme park.

As soon as the news became public of Hubert’s passing, tributes came flooding in from drivers, team principles, members of all three Championships (F1, F2, F3) and many, many fans. Drivers including Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon shared images of themselves when they were younger up until the present day to show how close they were and that they started their career at the same time, which many found difficult to comprehend that not just their fellow driver, but that their dear friend was no longer with us.

I was fortunate enough to attend the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix but had no idea what was about to transpire. Saturday 31st August started out as a day of excitement with the impending Formula 1 Qualifying which went off without a hitch and Charles Leclerc secured his third pole position. Of course, every single person has come to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix but when those parts are finished, people are given the opportunity to watch F2 and F3 throughout the weekend as well, to continue the Motorsport buzz.

At 4:45pm (GMT+1), my family and I were finding some shade near the La Source corner when we heard the F2 Feature Race was about to begin. We stood to our feet and watched as 20 cars darted up to the first corner and even commented on how amazingly all 20 cars managed to get round without any collisions. We waited for them to return and sure enough, saw them whizz by for the second time and then race off into the distance. Where we were standing, there was a giant screen showing you the camera angles around the track so you could watch the race from other parts of the track. Suddenly, we saw the moment the three cars came together and there was a chorus of shocked cries from the crowd as everyone watched in despair. You could tell instantly that all was not well.

Now, it is common knowledge in the Motorsport community that if something is replayed on the screens then things are not as bad as they may seem but, instantly, the camera’s turned to a different part of the track and very obviously, the race was red flagged. It became public knowledge about 10/15 minutes later that the race has been cancelled which added to the feeling of dread that something was seriously wrong. The next thing my family and I saw were a multitude of Ambulances, Fire & Rescue trucks and Extraction Vans rushing to the scene. Things began to quieten down and all we could do was await any news of the drivers involved in the incident. We then got the crushing news that Hubert had succumbed to his injuries in hospital. We also found out about Correa’s injuries and that he was still in intensive care. It was later revealed he was stable and had been made aware of Hubert’s passing.

The next day was incredibly hard to witness. The Formula 2 Sprint Race was also cancelled to honour Hubert and before for Formula 3 race, there was a minutes silence where members of all three Championships came together to remember their fallen friend. Probably the most difficult thing to see was Hubert’s mother and brother standing front and centre holding Hubert’s helmet. Another minutes silence was held before the Formula 1 Grand Prix, again, in attendance by Hubert’s family and another tribute that the fans had come up with is that everyone was to stand and clap on Lap 19 of the F1 race to honour him and his racing number, 19. Everyone did this without fail.

For me, this hit home very hard as I had only met Hubert back in April 2019 when he took part in the Renault Showcase at Disneyland Paris. I managed to chat to him and watch him do doughnuts around the track. I was also extremely proud to see my two loves (Disney and Formula 1) come together when Hubert took part in the Lights, Moteurs, Action Stunt Show in the Walt Disney Studios. So to be there at the race where he sadly lost his life was rather devastating.

I do not share my story to bring up everyone’s grief again, I share to show how much this can affect us. Whether you had met Anthoine once, knew him personally or only heard his name through his incident, we all felt it. We all felt the overwhelming loss as he was part of our community; part of our family. Hubert’s name will now live on forever and we, in the Motorsport family will remember him always.

]]>http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/04/a-tribute-to-anthoine-hubert-a-spectators-perspective/feed/013000Timmy Hansen wins in Loheachttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/04/timmy-hansen-wins-in-loheac/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/04/timmy-hansen-wins-in-loheac/#respondWed, 04 Sep 2019 20:17:04 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=13002Timmy Hansen wins in Loheac and closes the championship gap down to just two points. Hansen took his third win of the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship at the World RX of France. Hansen wasn’t able to convert his semi-final pole and started on the second row, however he took the lead at the first […]

]]>Timmy Hansen wins in Loheac and closes the championship gap down to just two points.

Hansen took his third win of the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship at the World RX of France.

Hansen wasn’t able to convert his semi-final pole and started on the second row, however he took the lead at the first corner.

Pole sitter, Andreas Bakkerud, in trying to outbreak Niclas Gronholm at the first corner pushed both of them wide which allowed Hansen up the inside to take the lead. Bakkerud and Gronholm dropped to the back.

Hansen led for the rest of the race, taking his joker on lap five and retaining his position.

Anton Marklund, was also able to gain at the first turn to move up to third. He then jumped Rokas Baciuska who took his joker on the opening lap. Hanging onto the back of Hansen, Marklund was able to maintain his position after the joker lap to take second place.

Completing an all Swedish podium was Kevin Hansen, who just made it through to the finals. Starting on the back row Kevin moved up to fourth and was able to jump Baciuska on his joker lap.

Baciuska was unable to regain the ground lost by taking his joker on lap one and missed out on a podium position.

Bakkerud and Gronholm were unable to recover from the first corner and finished the race in fifth and sixth.

With only two rounds left on the calendar there are just two points covering the top three drivers. Bakkerud leads by the two points with the Hansen brothers tied in second.

World RX returns in two weeks with the World RX of Latvia on 14th September.

]]>http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/09/04/timmy-hansen-wins-in-loheac/feed/013002DTM: Rast beats Mueller in anniversary race, Audi clinches manufacturers’ titlehttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/08/25/dtm-rast-beats-mueller-in-anniversary-race-audi-clinches-manufacturers-title/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/08/25/dtm-rast-beats-mueller-in-anniversary-race-audi-clinches-manufacturers-title/#respondSun, 25 Aug 2019 18:39:40 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=12980A great day for Rene Rast as he bounced back from quite an unlucky Saturday. Audi clinch the manufacturer’s title after a dominant season so far. It’s all about Audi at the moment in DTM – they seem to have built the strongest cars on the grid. Today’s race confirmed that once again. With all […]

]]>A great day for Rene Rast as he bounced back from quite an unlucky Saturday. Audi clinch the manufacturer’s title after a dominant season so far.

It’s all about Audi at the moment in DTM – they seem to have built the strongest cars on the grid. Today’s race confirmed that once again. With all eight Audi RS 5 DTM cars within the top 10, they clinched the manufacturer’s title four races before the end of the season. “Audi has now won three of the last four manufacturers’ titles in the DTM.” commented Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. “That’s a strong performance and shows the high lever our entire squad has been working on for years.”

Championship leader Rast benefited from a bad start from his rival Mueller. He missed the start completely, which caused the Swiss driver to drop to 10th. Rast managed to pass Jonathan Aberdein as well, who started from the front row. Meaning he was already in second place after the start. His teammate Jamie Green led, after starting from pole. Though, in the early stages, Green let Rast through.

After the first few laps, Mueller recovered to ninth, behind Wittmann. He tried the undercut, pitting on lap 8 of 34, which is quite early. This was an attempt to benefit from the others: as his tires were already on temperature, he could pass them when they joined the track after the pitstops on cold tires.

After Rast pitted on lap 12, they gap between the two title rivals was only 2.2 seconds. Though, it wasn’t long until Rast began to great a gap.

Photo Credit: Audi Media Center

After all the pitstops were completed, Rast had a comfortable lead over Mueller. He then cruised to the end – winning DTM’s 500th race. “Winning the 500th race in DTM history is very special.” Said a happy Rast after the race. “A big thank you from me goes to the guys in the pit lane who worked up until the early morning hours and gave me a perfect car again.”

Behind the leaders, track action really heated up. Rockenfeller had P3, and benefited from a fighting Frijns and Green behind him. Green managed to go past the Dutchman to take fourth. In the end, he tried to battle with Mike Rockenfeller for the final podium spot, but didn’t succeed and finished fourth. Frijns crossed the line in fifth, ahead of best-placed BMW Wittmann. Another trio of Audi drivers followed him – from seventh to ninth: Aberdein, Loic Duval and Pietro Fittipaldi.

Winner at the start? Phillip Eng. The Austrian BMW driver had to start from the pits, because his team worked on his car during Parc Ferme. In the first few laps of the race, he managed to recover to 11th, just behind Mueller. Eventually, he managed to take the final point and finished tenth.

The BMW drivers seemed to struggle with their tyres. Bruno Spengler, Timo Glock and Joel Eriksson all made a second pitstop, and therefore finished outside the points. Eriksson 13th, Spengler 14th and Glock unfortunately retired.

Photo Credit: DTM Media

Lots of bad luck for the R-Motorsport Aston Martin team today, with three of their four cars retiring.

First, it was Jake Dennis who slowed after only two laps. A few laps later, it was Ferdinand Habsburg who slowed as well after contact with Timo Glock, eventually parking his car behind the barriers. In the second half of the race, there was contact between Bruno Spengler and Paul di Resta in turn 9. The BMW driver forced di Resta off the track. End of the race for di Resta. Their only driver left in the race, Daniel Juncadella, brought home the car in 12th.

Rast (234 points) is still ahead of Mueller (214 points) in the championship, but the gap between the pair is now only 20 points, instead of 39 before this weekend. Wittmann is third with 167 points. The next two races take place on the Nurburgring in three weeks time.

]]>http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/08/25/dtm-rast-beats-mueller-in-anniversary-race-audi-clinches-manufacturers-title/feed/012980DTM: Jamie Green to start DTM’s 500th race from polehttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/08/25/dtm-jamie-green-to-start-dtms-500th-race-from-pole/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/08/25/dtm-jamie-green-to-start-dtms-500th-race-from-pole/#respondSun, 25 Aug 2019 11:03:38 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=12972In a repeat of yesterday’s performance, Audi dominates today’s qualifying – locking out the first five positions on the grid. Marco Wittmann the best BMW again in sixth. Audi has continuously shown been the team to beat this season. This is their eighth pole position of the year so far. Though, for Green, this is […]

]]>In a repeat of yesterday’s performance, Audi dominates today’s qualifying – locking out the first five positions on the grid. Marco Wittmann the best BMW again in sixth.

Audi has continuously shown been the team to beat this season. This is their eighth pole position of the year so far. Though, for Green, this is been his first in a long time. It’s kind of iconic to have him on pole for this afternoon’s race since he and BMW’s Bruno Spengler are the two most experienced drivers on the grid this year – this will be their 191st career race. Also, Green’s first-ever pole was at the Lausitzring as well, back in 2005.

“It’s been quite a long time since I’ve had a pole. So I’m extremely happy to show I still have the raw pace.” Said the Britafter the session. “It’s been a hard sort of last year and a half. So, to get a pole again is really good for the confidence. For me and the whole crew on my car. It’s just nice.”

Green set his time, a 1:35.397, in the first half of the session. Not many drivers were able to improve their times during the second half. However, WRT’s Jonathan Aberdein bucked the trend. From a provisional ninth he improved his time to a 1:35.498, which was enough for second place. The young South-African proves to be a great qualifier, as this isn’t the first time he will start from the front row on the grid.

Head of Audi Motorsport, Dieter Gass praises his two front-row starters: “I’m very happy for Jamie. 500th DTM race and he is on the pole. It’s been a long time I think that he hasn’t scored pole position. This morning he already said in an interview that he wanted to stick the car on pole. He did it, fantastic.” He continues about Aberdein: “But as well Jonathan Aberdein. It is the third time already that he’s in the front row on P2. Fantastic qualifying performance.”

The Audi pair who are fighting for the championship will line up alongside each other on the second row of the grid. Yesterday’s race winner Nico Mueller in third followed by Rast in fourth. Robin Frijns made it an all-Audi top five. Wittmann, who is currently third in the championship standings, will start from sixth and is hoping to repeat his start from yesterday.

Photo Credit: R-Motorsport Twitter

They are followed by another pair of Audi drivers – Loic Duval and Pietro Fittipaldi. The fifth row on the grid is for Timo Glock, who retired in yesterday’s race and Mike Rockenfeller. In positions 11 to 14, we find four more BMW’s before we have the R-Motorsport Aston Martin quartet from 15th to 18th. Today Paul di Resta is the highest-placed of the four, setting a time 1.158 seconds behind Green.

Just like yesterday, the race will start at 13.30 local time (12.30 UK time).

]]>http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/08/25/dtm-jamie-green-to-start-dtms-500th-race-from-pole/feed/012972DTM: Mueller wins after drama for championship leader Rasthttp://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/08/24/dtm-mueller-wins-after-drama-for-championship-leader-rast/
http://overtakemotorsport.com/2019/08/24/dtm-mueller-wins-after-drama-for-championship-leader-rast/#respondSat, 24 Aug 2019 19:22:00 +0000http://overtakemotorsport.com/?p=12961A mixed day for championship leader Rast – taking pole followed by a retirement. Nico Mueller held on to his position and crossed the line first. After taking pole position this morning and adding three important points to his tally, the day didn’t end well for Rene Rast. His start went well, keeping hold of […]

]]>A mixed day for championship leader Rast – taking pole followed by a retirement. Nico Mueller held on to his position and crossed the line first.

After taking pole position this morning and adding three important points to his tally, the day didn’t end well for Rene Rast. His start went well, keeping hold of the lead off the line. Behind him, his teammate suffered a bad start which resulted in losing a few places. Mueller moved up to second and Marco Wittmann, who started from fifth, moved up to third.

It was a clean start from the whole field. Rast led the first few laps but struggled to pull away. Mueller was on a mission to try and chase down Rast.

Turns out, luck wasn’t on the championship leader’s side this afternoon. In the seventh lap of the race, Rast slowed through the first few corners, allowing his rivals to pass him by. Mueller took the lead and managed to keep Wittmann behind. Rast appeared to suffer from lack of power and after trying for two more laps, he was forced to park his car in the garage.

On lap 10, the first driver to pit was Loic Duval. Robin Frijns followed a little later, which ended up being the perfect timing. Wittmann pitted one lap after Frijns – but that meant Frijns could capitalise on having warmer tyres. The Audi driver made a move on Wittmann at turn 6, which put him in second position.

Photo Credit: Audi Media Center

For a long time, Wittmann followed Frijns in third. But later on in the second part of the race, Mike Rockenfeller appeared behind him – clearly faster than the BMW. Not long after, Rockenfeller tried to dive up the inside of Wittmann going in to turn one. He didn’t succeed, but tried again a few laps later and made it stick. This moved him up to third, taking the final podium spot.

“The two situations with Marco were hard, but fair. The first time, I pulled back. Fortunately, the contact wasn’t a problem. With Rockenfeller moving up, we had an all Audi podium. Confirmation of what we already knew – Audi is the strongest manufacturer at the moment.”

“Of course, I’m very happy: this was an important result for us today.” Said Mueller after the race. “This victory is great for the guys and the 1-2-3 for Audi is really valuable, too.”

His teammate Frijns, who finished second, said “My car wasn’t perfect – we can still improve in that area, as I would like to move up into third or fourth in the championship standings.”

Philipp Eng, another driver who’s still in the championship contention, finished fifth after starting from eighth. The fastest man on Friday, Loic Duval, finished in sixth. Following him in seventh to ninth are WRT’s Pietro Fittipaldi and BMW’s Joel Eriksson and Bruno Spengler.

Unfortunately, Jamie Green has been unlucky today. After his great performance in qualifying, starting from second, he first suffered a bad start. Then, during his pitstop, he almost collided with Timo Glock when exiting his pit stall. Because of this incident, he received a drive-through penalty. He dropped back to 15th, but in the end fought back to tenth.

Because of Green’s strong final stint, Jake Dennis just missed out on scoring points and finished in 11th. His teammates Daniel Juncadella, Paul di Resta and Ferdinand Habsburg crossed the line in 12th, 13th and 15th. On the second lap of the race, Dennis, di Resta and Habsburg went three-wide through the corner. BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde finished last due to a late extra stop, in which he had to change his left-side door. Just like Rast, Glock retired as well.

After today’s qualifying, Rast had a 39-point lead over Mueller. Though, after today’s race, the difference is only 14 points – that’s how fast things can change in DTM. Tomorrow we celebrate a special occasion – DTM’s 500th race.

Qualifying will start at 10.35 local time (09.35 UK time) and the race at 13.30 local time (12.30 UK time).